Birmingham City vs Barnsley; Sky Bet Championship
Birmingham City vs Barnsley. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance20,061.
Birmingham vs Barnsley preview: Championship clash live on Sky Sports Football Red Button
Watch live on Sky Sports Football Red Button and the Sky Sports app from 7.40pm on Tuesday; Kick-off is at 7.45pm
Monday 19 August 2019 17:29, UK
Birmingham face Barnsley in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday evening, live on Sky Sports.
Coverage gets underway live on Sky Sports Football Red Button from 7.40pm, while kick-off is at 7.45pm.
Team news
Birmingham hope to have Jefferson Montero. The winger has been unable to play for Blues since his arrival at St Andrew's on the final day of the summer transfer window as the club await international clearance for his season-long loan from Swansea.
Boss Pep Clotet could consider a change of shape. He has sent his team out in a 4-4-1-1 formation in the last two matches - a draw against Bristol City and Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest - and might revert back to the 3-4-2-1 line up that brought victory at Brentford.
Swedish midfielder Kerim Mrabti (hamstring) is nearing a return to full fitness, but Jonathan Grounds (calf), Cheick Keita (hamstring) and Maikel Kieftenbeld (knee) remain out.
Barnsley could be boosted by the return of midfielder Alex Mowatt on Tuesday night. The 24-year-old has missed the last two games after suffering a side strain in the defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on August 10.
He trained on Monday, after which Tykes boss Daniel Stendel has said he will make a decision about Mowatt's inclusion. Barnsley have a good recent record at St Andrew's, having won there for the past two seasons and on three of their previous four visits.
Recent form
The season couldn't have got off to a better start for these sides, both of whom claimed a west London scalp on the opening weekend with 1-0 wins over Brentford and Fulham, respectively. Form has slightly tailed off in the weeks that have followed, however.
Neither will return for the second round of the Carabao Cup and though their league records are almost identical, Barnsley are likely to come into the fixture brimming with confidence in the wake of their thrilling 2-2 draw with fellow promoted side Charlton. Birmingham were beaten 3-0 at home by Nottingham Forest last time out.
Talking point - Loss of Che Adams apparent for Blues
Take a look at Birmingham's four-point haul from the opening three weeks of the season and you'd imagine all is well at St Andrew's when, in fact, there's a glaring hole at the focal point of Pep Clotet's attack - a Che Adams shaped hole. The frontman secured a big-money move to Southampton in July and was eventually replaced by Spanish striker Alvaro, who joined from Almeria, where he'd plundered 20 goals last term.
Kristian Pedersen's looping header secured the win over Brentford, though the Bees were by far and away the superior side, and Lukas Jutkiewicz scored in the draw with Bristol City. But Saturday's 3-0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest is perhaps where the alarm was raised. Clotet argued that his side were still gelling and "need to have a little bit of patience" but the need for Alvaro to adapt, as well as Jutkiewicz's inconsistency, could prove a worry for Birmingham.
Latest highlights
Opta stats
Birmingham City are winless in their last five Championship meetings with Barnsley (W0 D2 L3), losing both matches the last time they met in the 2017-18 season.
Barnsley are unbeaten in their last five league visits to Birmingham City (W3 D2 L0) since losing 0-2 in August 2008.
Each of Birmingham's last four home league games has finished level, with the Blues opening the scoring in the last three of those.
Barnsley have lost each of their last seven away games in the Championship (six in 2017-18, one this term), conceding at least twice in six of those games.
Lukas Jutkiewicz has scored in his last three home league games for Birmingham. The last player to score in four in a row at St Andrew's for Birmingham was also Jutkiewicz in October 2018.
The average age of Barnsley's starting XI has been 22 years and 310 days, the youngest in the competition this season.
Prutton's prediction
David Prutton predicts: 0-2 (18/1)
